I play. It's addictive, though there's a limit to how far one can actually progress in this game without wasting money on gems. Though I do suggest you to not use your gems on anything until you get 4 builders

Ironworker808 wrote:I've been playing CoC for almost two years and have managed to spend exactly zero dollars. It's possible to do so, just realize that you're going to progress slowly.

I'm only a level eight town hall, but I upgrade everything before going to the next TH level. And I mean everything. Walls, troop research, etc.

My name on CoC is, of course, Ironworker808. Currently clanless, but I don't mind at this point. Just grinding out, upgrading walls (I save those for last, usually) and hoarding gems for now.

Started playing Boom Beach a while back. Love that one too. Made by the same developer, supercell.

Waiting to upgrade TH after everything else must be a common theme. Guys at work have told me the same thing. I spend like $5 bucks on gems one time. Figured it was much cheaper than going to the pub for the night. Probably won't do it again.... maybe.

Definitely agree that you just have to be patient and grind it out.

Is the only revenue for SuperCell (for CoC) from people buying Gems? I have yet to see an ad or anything? Or like most apps, just gather as much data from phone and sell it to Big Data 'miners'?

I started playing with a few friends in November and I'm already up to Town Level 7 (including every possible building from Town Level 6). I haven't spent any money out of pocket, but I do occasional surveys via the Google Opinion Rewards app that gives me Google Play credit, so I've used about $15 bucks from that to buy gems and get to 4 builders, plus boost some mines here and there. I'd never buy anything else with Google Play credit anyway.

Ironworker808 wrote:I've been playing CoC for almost two years and have managed to spend exactly zero dollars. It's possible to do so, just realize that you're going to progress slowly.

I'm only a level eight town hall, but I upgrade everything before going to the next TH level. And I mean everything. Walls, troop research, etc.

My name on CoC is, of course, Ironworker808. Currently clanless, but I don't mind at this point. Just grinding out, upgrading walls (I save those for last, usually) and hoarding gems for now.

Started playing Boom Beach a while back. Love that one too. Made by the same developer, supercell.

Waiting to upgrade TH after everything else must be a common theme. Guys at work have told me the same thing. I spend like $5 bucks on gems one time. Figured it was much cheaper than going to the pub for the night. Probably won't do it again.... maybe.

Definitely agree that you just have to be patient and grind it out.

Is the only revenue for SuperCell (for CoC) from people buying Gems? I have yet to see an ad or anything? Or like most apps, just gather as much data from phone and sell it to Big Data 'miners'?

You upgrade TH last because who gets to see your base for attack is based on your TH level, and the amount of trophies you have.

Yeah, Gems (in app purchases) are their only revenue...to the tune of about one and a half million dollars...a day. Sickening, isn't it? Diamonds are the in app currency for Boom Beach. That one brings in a few hundred thousand a day. I'm in the wrong business.

I've seen several different ads for both CoC and Boom Beach. Cute ads. Gives personalities to the different troops.

PetePierson wrote:Waiting to upgrade TH after everything else must be a common theme. Guys at work have told me the same thing. I spend like $5 bucks on gems one time. Figured it was much cheaper than going to the pub for the night. Probably won't do it again.... maybe.

Definitely agree that you just have to be patient and grind it out.

Is the only revenue for SuperCell (for CoC) from people buying Gems? I have yet to see an ad or anything? Or like most apps, just gather as much data from phone and sell it to Big Data 'miners'?

You upgrade TH last because who gets to see your base for attack is based on your TH level, and the amount of trophies you have.

Yeah, Gems (in app purchases) are their only revenue...to the tune of about one and a half million dollars...a day. Sickening, isn't it? Diamonds are the in app currency for Boom Beach. That one brings in a few hundred thousand a day. I'm in the wrong business.

I've seen several different ads for both CoC and Boom Beach. Cute ads. Gives personalities to the different troops.

Upgrading the TH last is mainly more so that when you raid you get less loot due to the penalty for attacking bases with TH levels lower than yours. It ends up costing you on defense.

Don't upgrade more than one defensive structure at a time. Leaves you weak against attacks. Ran across a base where the guy was upgrading three of his air defenses at the same time. Swooped in with a squadron of dragons and wiped his ass out, lol.

And always leave one builder free. That'll let you upgrade your walls (which are immediate) and clear obstacles as you get gold/elixir. The less resources you have built up, the less you'll be attacked.

Don't upgrade more than one defensive structure at a time. Leaves you weak against attacks. Ran across a base where the guy was upgrading three of his air defenses at the same time. Swooped in with a squadron of dragons and wiped his ass out, lol.

And always leave one builder free. That'll let you upgrade your walls (which are immediate) and clear obstacles as you get gold/elixir. The less resources you have built up, the less you'll be attacked.

Thanks IW. I have all my walls maxed out currently. Still waiting to upgrade a few other things before my TH. Definitely tough to keep one builder available when you are first starting out and only have two!

Don't upgrade more than one defensive structure at a time. Leaves you weak against attacks. Ran across a base where the guy was upgrading three of his air defenses at the same time. Swooped in with a squadron of dragons and wiped his ass out, lol.

And always leave one builder free. That'll let you upgrade your walls (which are immediate) and clear obstacles as you get gold/elixir. The less resources you have built up, the less you'll be attacked.

Thanks IW. I have all my walls maxed out currently. Still waiting to upgrade a few other things before my TH. Definitely tough to keep one builder available when you are first starting out and only have two!

Very true. I hoarded gems until I had four builders. Not going to get a fifth. Doesn't seem to be a point. Only other gem spends I do are when SuperCell rolls out the specials...one gem for a 24 hour boost, or something like that. Once you get your walls to lvl 9, you can start using gold AND elixir to upgrade them.

Keeping one builder open is not a good thing, IMO. You always want to have all of them allocated to upgrade as much as possible, although it's incredibly difficult at high levels. You want to build up as fast as possible. Most, like myself, wait to do the walls until after all the defenses are upgraded...as it's not nearly as important as the defenses themselves. The walls cost 1 mil per wall for me, so if I were to "upgrade on the side" I would never finish anything.

My advice is to upgrade troops before anything else. Wizards, Golem, Witch, Pekka, Heroes are most important and best for wars and Archers, Barbarians, Balloons, and minions are all great for farming.

All my time goes to war...my clan has 130 war wins and we are constantly warring...so it's difficult to upgrade heroes and I donate over 1,000 troops a season.

uscbucsfan wrote:Keeping one builder open is not a good thing, IMO. You always want to have all of them allocated to upgrade as much as possible, although it's incredibly difficult at high levels. You want to build up as fast as possible. Most, like myself, wait to do the walls until after all the defenses are upgraded...as it's not nearly as important as the defenses themselves. The walls cost 1 mil per wall for me, so if I were to "upgrade on the side" I would never finish anything.

+1

It's pointless to have 4 builders when you are wasting one just sitting there. On a sidenote, Ironworker did mention he did a raid with a squad of dragons against someone who was upgrading air defense... Hope he profited from that expensive raid.

uscbucsfan wrote:Keeping one builder open is not a good thing, IMO. You always want to have all of them allocated to upgrade as much as possible, although it's incredibly difficult at high levels. You want to build up as fast as possible. Most, like myself, wait to do the walls until after all the defenses are upgraded...as it's not nearly as important as the defenses themselves. The walls cost 1 mil per wall for me, so if I were to "upgrade on the side" I would never finish anything.

+1

It's pointless to have 4 builders when you are wasting one just sitting there. On a sidenote, Ironworker did mention he did a raid with a squad of dragons against someone who was upgrading air defense... Hope he profited from that expensive raid.

I don't think I've "raided" with anything other than barch since Clan Wars started. I gowipe or gowiwi during clan wars...I was lost for a while after the Hog nerf.

It's pointless to have 4 builders when you are wasting one just sitting there. On a sidenote, Ironworker did mention he did a raid with a squad of dragons against someone who was upgrading air defense... Hope he profited from that expensive raid.

I don't think I've "raided" with anything other than barch since Clan Wars started. I gowipe or gowiwi during clan wars...I was lost for a while after the Hog nerf.

Yep. When I attack I use the Barch method. In Clan Wars as of now I go Dragons/Balloons for now while I upgrade my other stuff. Probably will go Balloonion again when I upgrade to Level 6 balloons... but that will be a long while from now.

uscbucsfan wrote:I don't think I've "raided" with anything other than barch since Clan Wars started. I gowipe or gowiwi during clan wars...I was lost for a while after the Hog nerf.

Yep. When I attack I use the Barch method. In Clan Wars as of now I go Dragons/Balloons for now while I upgrade my other stuff. Probably will go Balloonion again when I upgrade to Level 6 balloons... but that will be a long while from now.

I have lvl 6 loons and donate a ton to th8s (who love air attacks in war), but I don't like them. I just have more control and confidence in GoWiPe than anything else. Maybe when I get my minions up (only lvl 3), I'll go back, but it's too hit or miss for me right now.

They are attacking strategies. Barch = Barbs/Archers... Basically using the barbs as a meat shield with archers behind it. This is the most cost/effective attack strategy. It's good for simple raids. I would suggest this as you are just starting out.